The Texas Longhorns have been a strange team this year. They played well to start the year, then got destroyed by Oklahoma. Then they flew under the radar for a little bit. Now the Horns are playing much better football, led by a running game that just keeps churning up yards along the way. So what can we expect from the Longhorns when they travel to Columbia for a tough noon game on Saturday? If you are going to successfully make those college football picks, then you need to look at all of the different angles that this game presents. To be sure, there are lots of different ways to handicap this one.

The Horns can run the ball, but they have had very little success throwing. They struggle on the outside and don’t have any special playmakers there. Likewise, QB David Ash is raw and his running ability is more impressive than his throwing ability at this point. They rely heavily upon a number of different backs to get the job done, as they are not going to beat anyone through the air this season. When they go on the road in this environment, will the Horns have what it takes to knock off Missouri? The conventional wisdom says yes, but I’m not quite sure they are ready yet for this kind of challenge.

The Missouri Tigers are balanced on offense. They run the ball extremely well behind Henry Josey and the good legs of quarterback James Franklin. When he doesn’t turn the ball over, Franklin is capable of moving this Missouri team up and down the field. More importantly, this is a team that can really stop the run on defense. They struggle to stop the pass, but the Longhorns don’t have the weapons to expose this weakness. When they stack up against the run, what is going to happen in this game? Will the Horns be able to keep it moving enough to actually win this game? If you are making college football picks, then you might want to lean on the Tigers in this game.